Aputure shows off new MC Pro and MT Pro RGB lights

by Slavik BoyechkoApril 26^th, 2022

Aputure not only announced the LS 600c Pro (watch our interview here) at NAB 2022, but they also previewed prototypes of a new small tube light, the MT Pro, and an improved version of their small business card-sized RGB light, the MC Pro.

At the last NAB in 2019, Aputure revealed their tiny business-card size RGB light, the AL-MC. Since then, the MC has been a staple in all sorts of productions, from set dressings to adding splashes of color to Youtube backgrounds.

3 years later, Aputure is back with an update to the MC, along with the addition of a new high end RGB tube light.

Aputure MC Pro

In the interview at NAB 2022, Aputure’s Ted Sims said the MC is the world’s smallest pocket-size LED light with full RGB. They are magnetic and feature wireless charging, which helps with both mounting them quickly as well as charging a series of MC lights in a charge case without cables.

MC Pro Specs

The new MC Pro has some updates that make the little light even more attractive:

• 40% brighter output than the original MC.
• A narrower beam angle, which combined with the higher output gives the MC Pro 3x higher luminous ratings than the original MC, according to Ted sim.
• An expanded color temperature range, now from 2000-10,000 Kelvin.
• Magnetic front enables quick, snap-on diffusion or grid plates.
• Is fully RGB tunable and can produce over 1 billion colors.

Like the original MC, the MC Pro is Sidus Link compatible, which means it can be controlled wirelessly along with all of Aputure’s other Sidus-compatible lights.

At this time, there is no release date or even a price estimate for the MC Pro, and it’s not available for NAB show visitors to look at yet. So the MC Pro in its current form is only a preview of what they’re working on, and it could change during production.

Aputure MT RGB Tube Light

Before he shows off the new MT RGB tube light, in the interview Ted Sim gives some context for the amaran series of lights that Aputure has recently released, such as the flexible panels, tubes, and the amaran 100-series. He defines the amaran lights as innovation for the content creator community, and not necessarily for high end sets. He says they have different needs, and amaran is for the “content creator community” with more affordable lights than the equipment that is made for high-end filmmakers.

So with that said, the new MT tube light is specifically an Aputure release, and not an amaran series light. Ted says the new MT tube light aims to solve some issues with other tube lights out there, which is why it has taken Aputure a long time to release tube lights after their customers have been asking for them for years.

MT RGB Specs

The new Aputure MT light doesn’t have a release date or price yet, but here are some specs:

• 1 foot tube.
• According to Ted, this is the brightest tube on the market, with the highest resolution pixel mapping, and the fastest effects refresh of any tube light on the market.
• Can dim lower than any other tube light, but without seeing the LED pixels. That’s a result of a higher pixel density with 36 LED pixels inside the tube.
• Sidus-link controllable, built in wireless DMX, weather-proof.
• 100 minutes of power with a built-in battery.
• Ultra thin edges on the end caps, to make them more attractive as on-screen practical lights.

To provide an example of the difference between an Aputure and an amaran series light, Ted says the amaran tube lights have a user replaceable battery, whereas the Aputure MT has a built-in battery. That’s because a high end production may rent many of these tube lights, and if one light stops working due to a faulty battery, that production will simply swap out the light and keep the production going. But an amaran customer might not be purchasing or renting lots of tube lights, so when one goes down, the amaran customer will want to replace the battery rather than swap the light out and let the rental house deal with it.

Finally, Ted emphasizes that the difference between Aputure tube lights and other brands is that Aputure has invested heavily in the software, with their Sidus Link app. They want to make the lights easy and intuitive to control, especially when combining a series of lights.

What’s your opinion on the newly announced tiny tube and business-card-sized lights from Aputure? Let us know in the comments below what you would use them for.